Tough times for Afghan media

KABUL, Afghanistan-The United States isn’t the only place that has seen a sharp decline in the number of jobs for journalists in recent years.

Afghan journalists say cuts in international funding for the media are threatening to curtail the explosive growth in print and broadcasting that the country has witnessed in recent years. More than 50 television channels have emerged since the Taliban administration was ousted in late 2001, a startling development in a country where television was once banned. In addition, the nation boasts more than 100 radio stations and about 700 newspapers and magazines.

However, journalists say international assistance to the media has been in decline since 2008, and jobs are now being axed in large numbers.

Some warn that if western donor support tails off, it will be replaced by covert funding from neighboring Iran and Pakistan - with all the influence that it will buy those countries.

Pajhwok Afghan News, which describes itself as Afghanistan’s largest independent news agency, has laid off 70 of its 130 journalists because of financial difficulties, according to its director Danesh Karokhel.

The same cuts are taking place elsewhere. In May, about 300 journalists working for independent media outlets across Afghanistan lost their jobs, according to information gathered by Pajhwok.

Nai, a non-government group that works to promote independent media and freedom of expression, believes that both are now at risk.

“Unbiased media are on the verge of collapse,” Nai’s director Sediqullah Tauhidi said. “Media outlets which have bowed to Iran and Pakistan may intensify their activities against western interests, as well as against freedom of speech and democracy in Afghanistan.”

In Kabul, there is talk of Pakistan and Iran recruiting Afghan journalists. In April, Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, the domestic intelligence agency, accused certain media outlets of working for Iran or Pakistan.

Abdul Satar Sadat, a political analyst and director of the Afghan Lawyers’ Network, believes both countries have already acquired media outlets in Afghanistan.

Rahimullah Samandar, director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Kabul, warned that if international aid continues to decrease, neighboring countries will be well placed to increase their influence in the country, especially after foreign security forces withdraw in 2014.

Pakistani officials deny they are attempting to exert influence in the country through the media. Iranian officials declined comment.

Not all media outlets depend on donor support, and some have developed successful business models.

Mujahid Kakar is head of news and political programming at the Tolo TV, Tolo News and Lemar stations, and insists the three channels will be immune to foreign aid cuts. The Arman FM and Arakozia FM radio stations, which are part of the same Moby Group, will also be unaffected, he said.

At the same time, Kakar acknowledged that some staff employed by the media group had been laid off as declining private investment led to falling advertising revenues.

Khan Mohammad Danishju is a reporter in Afghanistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict.